by raceamerica » Tue Aug 03, 2021 10:50 am
Yes, the latest model of Track Safety Lights are RGB designs. RGB means Red+Green+Blue and no yellow LED. This is a much more efficient design than the previous model containing red+green+blue+yellow LEDs, efficient from a power standpoint as well as a brightness and purity of color aspect. The control circuitry to balance the LEDs has also improved in the new design.
When yellow was displayed on the previous design of TSL, the LED was set at its highest brightness level to compensate viewing outdoors. Yellow is the most difficult color for the human eye to view in sunlight and yellow LEDs tend to be more of a dirty yellow or amber in color. The new design combines red and green LEDs to produce a pure yellow color. This means both the red LEDS and the green LEDS are illuminated at the same time to form yellow. Two LEDs illuminated in place of a single yellow LED results in a higher brightness level for yellow flags. Twice as many LEDs are on in the new design. Like any RGB display (televisions, larger digital billboards, etc) Close up the red and green LEDs do not blend and appear as two distinct colors. Move away a few feet and suddenly the two colors combine and appear as a pure clean yellow at a much brighter level.
White in the older design had all four LEDs illuminated for 25% duty cycle each balanced but always appeared a bit blue or purple. The new design has all three colors illuminated at the same time balanced for a pure white. The white on the new design had to be detuned to 75% of full brightness to view the TSL without a flash-bulb effect on your eye. Still at 75% brightness, white is 50% brighter than on previous design.
Power draw levels remain the same or have decreased slightly with new color balancing algorithms in the RGB design.
Increased brightness, increased color purity, and lower power draw are all benefits of the new design but remain fully compatible with previous models.